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Official blog of Bangladesh Open Source Network

A Successful Day with Few Dedicated Female Students in a Job Exposure Visit: Seeing is Believing

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If you have a clear idea of ​​what the work environment might be like before entering the workplace or where you can apply your skill effectively that you have acquired in your life, then the battle for entry into a career can be very relaxing. To that end, the Bangladesh Open Source Network organized an event called "Seeing is Believing" where undergraduate students get a scope to visit various institutions and job exposures. In its continuation, on September 3, some female students from different institutions of the capital visited Rokomari.com.

Rockmarie.com is an online based e-commerce company. A familiar name to thousands of book lovers across the country. There are numerous young people working in different departments of this organization. Students visited the institute to learn about the scope of work with them and observe their working methods. Rakmari.com operates the work of delivering the book in different parts of the country, sitting in this office in Dhaka. Mirza Zahurul Islam, who works at Rakmari.com and Bani, who is also a employee of their customer service, shows the details of how every employee of the organization is working after reaching the order of a book until it reaches a customer. The company, which provides 100 percent service in 50 districts of the country, said they serve customers 24 hours a day on 7 days a week. There are separate sections for each job and each category is linked to each other's work. When asked about job opportunities at Rockmarty.com, Bonnie said that all the services of customer service, branding and outlining are available for girls. The institute’s activities inspire the students.

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It would be exciting to work with so many books around, said Rabia Aktar, a student of Dhaka University. Kaniz Fatema Shehrin, a 4th-year student of BBA at Bangladesh University of Business and Technology. She thinks that this e-commerce company is very much associated with her educational life. She is amazed at how such an online-based company is operating seamlessly. She pledged to work with Rokomari.com after finishing her studies.

A Visionary Move with IoT on the Road to Career

Sadia Kabir Dina experienced her first IoT job attachment

As the globe is moving towards development, IoT is the most driving issue that increases efficiency and effectiveness in the existing system. Most of the developing countries are adopting this Internet of Things where Bangladesh is lagging behind. Our ignorance about IoT surprised Sadia Kabir Dina, a student of Computer Science and Engineering of Rajshahi University of Engineering Technology. It aroused her interest in IoT and determined her to contribute in this sector. She started her first job attachment in Inovace- which is one of the latest tech startups in Bangladesh, focusing on IT sector, especially on embedded systems design- software development; and relentlessly working on the advancement of IoT in our country.

“I made a decision to contribute somehow in establishing the impacts of IoT in Bangladesh and for that the very first job was to educate myself and be compatible to do some better”.

Before engaging with this job attachment, Sadia has worked on organizing workshops, helping other students making prototypes and so on. She with her two friends wrote their first ever up-to the mark book in Bengali on arduino in 2018. This book was written for making Arduino easier to learn for the teens; which will eventually make IoT familiar among the youth to explore.

 “You know, when you plan to make some new concepts easier to the folks, you need to make enough resources available that are both informative and easy”.

The attachment started in the last half of Ramadan when she was on her vacation. On the first day, she was welcomed by the Managing Director of Inovace. There are four departments in that company. With them Sadia spent her most of the time at the Research and Development department as she thought this was the core of that team. She observed the total work flow from this department and tried to understand their working procedure.

“Any updates from the production are first served here. After that, R&D troubleshooting, analyzing the problem, solving it or giving directions back to them. They suggest necessary upgradation to the software and business department too. On the whole, it seemed to be a perfect bridge among all its branches”.

1 j8IOiJPGOc73nvII8dDiUwTeam Inovace

During the attachment, I came to know about their-

  • products,
  • raw materials,
  • manufacturing,
  • circulation,
  • working procedures,
  • team management,
  • component selection,
  • business models,
  • firmware and PCB designing,
  • system monitoring,
  • pricing and revenue,
  • policies,
  • marketing and branding,
  • distributed research and
  • Most importantly the challenges they are facing right now!

She asked frequent questions after she was served the details of each components which they used making their products. Sadia thought herself that designing a product and planning to make it great, she needed to understand each of its steps with WHY and WHY NOT?

From the very day she joined them, she knew how to research over a thing with beta testing, how any slight mistakes could affect in PCB designs, how to adapt any new technologies on older versions, how to minimize the loss and so on. Apart from the hardware part, she learned a huge amount of stuffs regarding business models, marketing and mass production. She got a chance to be familiar with the functions of stm 32 and LoRa, as they were doing research on these for the betterment.

“Before joining them, the concept of MQTT and NB-IoT was null to me though it is going to be great soon! I think this is the best part of this attachment that I can work and research over thing with proper guidance anytime beside me”.

She was overwhelmed with satisfaction when she started to express her feelings about her very first job attachment. She said, “This is a challenging factor to work in this environment where people are not easy to IoT products and not ready for paying this to get a better service or lifestyle than this. In this case, though the team dreams for any better service than existing products, they cannot think of going to any mass production”.  She added, “in the attachment what a student want the most is to get the vibes of workplace by working hand-on, learn new things to implement and get the experience that will last long to apply in his/her career. I’ve achieved all these in Inovace along with the opportunity to meet a bunch of talented people and a great team”.

She denoted the importance of having an internship opportunity from student life as it is a great initiative to thrive towards the goal of career. She said, “we should engage ourselves more with these attachments or join as an interns or make our own startups with IoT. ‘Cause it’s time to go on the battle and fight to conquer for the best!

 

 

Jhangkar Mahbub Conducted a Seminar On Programming

The world is changing fast. Removing CNG - Uber is getting popula. YouTube-TikTalk is running to finish TV-Radio. On such a fast-changing day, Change should be brought in programming education.   A preparatory seminar have been organized in Dhaka.

The seminar titled 'Learn Programming for Future' was held at Dipanpur, at Kataban in the capital at three o'clock on 17 August, 2019 . The seminar was run by Jhankar Mahbub, a popular programming book writer and senior web developer at Nielsen Company in Chicago, USA. 

At the seminar, about 60 programming enthusiasts participated in the seminar.

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Jhankar Mahbub discussed about the position and the requirements of programming in the future. He said, "Five to seven years from today, the use of technology will increase in all areas of life. Technology is also associated with creativity. If you cannot improve your skills in line with that technology, then you have to fall behind.

Jhankar Mahbub added, "If someone is stuck in the same place for being the best, the second person who is always trying to take his skills one step further, will one day hit him." Jhunkar Mahboob answers all the questions on the Seminar. Responding to a question about the impact of academic study of programmers in the workplace, he said that skills of programming is one of the main conditions for joining the workplace. Big Companies like Google, Microsoft etc. have chosen those skilled people who are tremendous in problem solving with coding.

Jhangkar Mahbub also said that technology is now getting smarter through artificial intelligence. After some time the use of robots will increase in all tasks. But the human brain also needs to run this robot, which will exploit the robot through programming. Therefore, advanced programming requires skilled manpower to adapt itself to advanced technology.

Munir Hasan, general secretary of the Bangladesh Open Source Network, said that interest in programming should be grown from the school level. Not for just learning, problem solving by coding can be a major challenge for future skilled programmers.

Adorsho Boi has sponsored the seminar.

Bdosn Has Organized Various Activities in Chittagong to Improve ICT And Programming Skills Of Women

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Grace Hopper Girls’ Programming Camps and ICT Camps have been organized in various institutes of Chittagong to create interest in women and enhance their skills in information technology. A total of 165 students from three institutions of Chittagong have joined this program organized by the Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN). The event started from July 25 and runs till July 27.

Grace Hopper Girls Programming Camp is being held on July 24 at International Islamic University in Sitakunda, Chittagong. A total of 35 female students participated in this camp. Prof. Mohammad Shamsul Alam, a teacher in the computer science and engineering department of the university, and Tanvir Ahsan, president of the IIUC Computer Club were present at the camp. At the end of the camp, students participated in a separate programming contest. Certificates were handed over to the participants in the two contests.

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In addition, a hands on Arduino workshop was held at Chittagong Independent University on July 25. A total of 25 female students participated. In the workshop, students use Arduino to make various projects.

Two more activities were conducted in Chittagong under the initiative of Bangladesh Open Source Network. The Basic Internet of Things (IoT) workshop was organized on July 24 at International Islamic University with a participation of 30 students. Attendees at the camp were trained in ten hands-on projects related to Arduino, Raspberry Pi and IoT.

And on 25 July, Chittagong Independent University hosted "Take Back the Tech" on social media and online seminars on how to prevent violence against women in online. About 50 students attended the seminar. Mahbuba Sultana, Chief Coordinator of Bangladesh Open Source Network and Senior Lecturer of Northern University, conducted the seminar. She discussed about personal data storage, information exchange and security assurance on social media. Atikur Rahman, Assistant Professor and Head of Computer Science and Engineering Department, Dr. Asif Iqbal, Associate Professor and Head of Electronics and Telecommunication Department, respected teachers from different departments.

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It is noted that the Bangladesh Open Source Network organizes these camps under the project "Enabling Sustainable Development Goals for Bangladesh-SD1GBD" to encourage women in information technology and increase women's participation in the information technology workplace. Manuser Jonno Foundation is monitoring the project overall. Under the three-year project, BdOSN will organize similar camps in different places in the country

Programming Camp at University of Creative Technology to Involve Women in Information Technology

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On July 26 & 27, a two-day Grace Hopper Girls Programming Camp has organized at the University of Creative Technology in Chittagong. In the current age, coding is considered as a graet problem solving method. In our country, there are a handful of female students in our country who choose coding or programming as their career.  This may be due to fear in programming, lack of skills or lack of interest. At the aim of to increse programming skill as well as interest, Bangladesh Open Source Network haz organized a two-day long programming camp at the University of Creative Technology in Chittagong. 25 female students have participated in this camp. 

Through this camp, the female students get opportunities to recover their lackings in programming. Hands on training , counseilling and a contest on programming has conducted in this camp. Pooja Chakraborty, a lecturer at the University of Creative Technology, is coordinating the camp and is in charge of the program coordinator of BDOSN Md. Raihan Islam, Muntasir Morshed, Nirab Hasan

A Seminar on Violence Against Women has Organized Successfully

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In the current age of information technology, violence in online against women is a social problem. Awareness of using social media is needed to overcome this problem. And so, a seminar titled Take Back the Tech was held on July 24 at Chittagong Independent University on how to prevent violence against women in online. Bangladesh Open Source Network has organized the seminar with the participation of about 50 students from the university level. The seminar was conducted by Mahbuba Sultana, Chief Coordinator of the Bangladesh Open Source Network and Senior Lecturer in Business Administration at Northern University.

She suggested the girls to be conscious about personal data storage, information exchange and security on social media. She also discuss about the role of the man in preventing violence. She said, "If men are truly respectful of women and believe in women empowerment then it is possible to overcome this social problem in the country.

He added that alertness and efficiency in the Internet world can prevent online violence. Also, to prevent cybercrime and cyberbullying, there is a need to keep up to date on all the new innovations in information technology.

Mr. Atikur Rahman, Assistant Professor and Head of Computer Science and Engineering Department, and Dr. Asif Iqbal, Associate Professor and Head of Electronics and Telecommunication Department and other respected teachers from different departments were present in the seminer. Speakers commented that women skilled and knowledgeable in information technology can protect themselves from the negative effects.

Hands On IOT Workshop Held at International Islamic University

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Internet of Things offers some interesting applications to our lives easier.  IoT is the connection of objects (things) to the Internet and these objects can collect and exchange data over the Internet and with each other. The internet of things (IoT) has made the world more efficient, convenient and enjoyable. Keeping that in mind, Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) has arranged an ICT camp focused on IOT workshop. The workshop was attended by thirty students from  EEE and CSE department of the University. 

Participants were trained in ten hands-on projects on Arduino, Raspberry Pi and IoT. This workshop was conducted by BDOSN program coordinator Michal Islam and BDOSN volunteer Priman Chowdhury.

Grace Hopper Girls' Programming Camp Concluded at International Islamic University, Chittagong

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Grace Hopper Girls' Programming Camp has organized by Bangladesh Open Source Network at at the International Islamic University, Chittagong in 24 July, 2019. 35 female graduates participated on this camp. The camp is organized throughout the day to enhance the skills of women in information technology. Prominent teachers of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Prof. Md. Shamsul Alam and IIUC Computer Club President Tanvir Ahsan were present as the chief guests. Students learnt about the basic concepts of programming at the camp. 

It is to be noted that this camp was organized under the three year long program "Enabling Sustainable Development Goals for Bangladesh for 2030" of Bangladesh Open Source Network. 

Invitation for Expressions of Interest

Bangladesh open Source Network (BdOSN) is a non-profit, voluntary organization. It was launched in 2005 in Dhaka and registered at Registrar of Joint Stock Companies of Bangladesh under Societies Act. Currently it is implementing a three years project titled ‘Enabling Sustainable Development Goals of Bangladesh for 2030-BdOSN’ from April 2019 – March 2022. Under this project BdOSN is inviting Expressions of Interest (EoI) for Vendor Enlistment with the below details.

SCHEDULE FOR VENDOR ENLISTMENT:

 

For the period of August 2019 to March 2022

 

Invited by:

Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN), Sheltech Niribili, 210/2, Elephant Road, Dhaka-1205. 

Contact Person: Admin & Accounts Officer; Telephone: 01670308034, 01714117478

Date & Time of issue of Enlistment Schedule:

From 22 July to 31 July 2019 On 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM (Except Monday).

Vendor Enlistment Notice

Date: 20 July 2019

BdOSN invites applications for Enlistment from the genuine vendors/suppliers for the period of August 2019 to March 2022 for the following categories:

Category

A. General Supplier (all goods/items & supplies)

B. Designing and Printing publications: (Books, Booklet, Leaflet, Sticker, Brochure, Report, Flipchart, Poster, and Banner etc.)

Enlistment Schedule

Enlistment Schedule (Application Form) can be collected from BdOSN, Sheltech Niribili, 210/2, Elephant Road, Dhaka-1205 or Call/send e-mail for soft copy (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Date & Time of issue of Enlistment Schedule

From 22 July to 31 July 2019 On 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM (Except Monday).

Enlistment Schedule  dropping

Enlistment Schedule  dropping:

Please mark/ mention on envelop for enlistment category “application for.…………”.and drop into the box of  BdOSN, Sheltech Niribili, 210/2, Elephant Road, Dhaka-1205.

Last Date and time for submission

31 July 2019 on/before 4:30 pm

Bangladesh open Source Network (BdOSN) management reserves the right to accept or reject part/whole of any or all the application without assigning any reason whatsoever.

For Terms and Condition follow the link bellow-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5WQ4sTAD7I3bVVZdlk3Vjd4dldDQ0RNYkVwc2M0bGJkUDU4/view?usp=sharing

For Application Form Go Through the Link-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5WQ4sTAD7I3dW5nc085bWFaU3pTYWZrTkRLWF9qVThBNS1V/view?usp=sharing

Two-day machine learning workshop concluded in the capital

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The two-day machine learning workshop ended in 13 July, 2019 at the campus of the World University of  Bangladesh on the Green Road in the capital. A team of 35 engineers working in the ICT sector participated in this workshop. This workshop was organized by iPay Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Open Source Network. LinkedIn Data Scientist Dr. Badrul Munir Sarwar has been trained at the workshop.

Machine learning is widely used in the creation of intelligent systems in tech organizations worldwide. The most important topics of machine learning are discussed in the hands on workshop. In these two days there was a great depth discussion about the use of machine learning in the industry.

Nibras and Rakib, a researcher at ICDDRB, who participated in the workshop said, this workshop is directly related to my ongoing projects. I think I can apply the knowledge from the workshop there.

Munir Hasan, General Secretary, Bangladesh Open Source Network said that this workshop was organized to enhance machine learning and skilled engineers on machine learning in Bangladesh.

At the workshop, BDOSN General Secretary Munir Hassan, Zakaria Swapan, CEO of iPay, Cazi Hassan Robin, Head of CSE Department of the World University of Bangladesh, were present.